Almost 20 years ago, I was speaking with an older Jewish couple who seemed very close to putting their faith in Jesus as Messiah, but they were not 100 percent sure.I said to them, "Later this week I'm debating an Orthodox rabbi. Why not come to the debate to hear both sides of the issue, and then you can make an informed decision?"Thankfully, they came to the event, they listened with open hearts and minds, and by God's grace, they came to faith.More recently, I was invited to speak on a college campus about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, representing the Israeli...

The Rev. Greg Fry, priest-in-charge at Grace Episcopal Church in Pine Bluff, told his congregation Sunday morning that he is transgendered and identifies himself as a woman, apparently becoming the only working member of the Episcopalian clergy in Arkansas ever to make such an announcement. Church members and officials at Grace Episcopal declined comment on Monday, while one member said church leaders in the vestry were scheduled to meet on Wednesday, after which they may be in a better position to discuss the matter. The Rt. Rev. Larry Benfield, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas, said in a statement...

A local church will on Sunday ring in the new year by ordaining Philadelphia's first openly gay male Presbyterian pastor. Broad Street Ministry will welcome Princeton Theological Seminary graduate David Norse as its new leader, according to the Avenue of the Arts church's convening minister, the Rev. Bill Golderer. "There's a lot of progressive rhetoric among Christian churches that are trying to revitalize themselves, but this is a progressive move," Golderer said. "Having David ordained to the ministry is a way of performing the gospel that we espouse. It's acting, not talking." The broad-minded church has long been demonstrating its...

Senior members of the Church of Scotland voted Monday to let some congregations choose ministers who are in same-sex relationships—an important compromise that must still pass further hurdles before it can become church law. The church’s General Assembly backed a motion affirming a traditional conservative view on homosexuality, but permitted liberal congregations to ordain openly gay men or women if they wish. … Monday’s decision came after a lengthy debate on the issue, which has divided the church of about 400,000 members for years. Two congregations have split from the church over the issue. …

Hundreds of United Methodist clergy are expressing deep concerns over a pledge made by a large group of fellow ministers to marry same-sex couples. They argue that if the pledge is carried through, the future of the denomination is in jeopardy. "We do not know how many, if any, marriages or 'holy unions' of same-sex couples will be performed by UM clergy in the near future," reads a letter, currently signed by more than 400 pastors, to the Council of Bishops. "But we do know the destructive effects that will result in our local churches and throughout the denomination if...

As an out Presbyterian preacher, I'd experienced prejudice before. But nothing like what I faced in North CarolinaI was reading "Home in Henderson" -- the unofficial city website for a small town in North Carolina where I had recently moved to preach -- when I came across the blog entry. It was posted under the pseudonym "Church Reporter." "A friend that attends the First Presbyterian Church told me to do a Google search on their new minister Brett Webb-Mitchell," the entry began. "Having done so, I have only three comments to make on the pastor selection: 1. Who is responsible...

Two San Francisco Lutheran congregations were at the center of a battle of biblical proportions with their national church 16 years ago.First United Lutheran Church in the Tenderloin had ordained an openly gay pastor in 1990. In Duboce Triangle, St. Francis Lutheran Church had ordained two lesbian pastors that same year. Both actions flew in the face of the policies and beliefs of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and after a five-year fight, the denomination cut the two churches loose.The San Francisco churches survived and stuck by their beliefs - the national denomination eventually changed. In 2009, leaders of...

Monday August 16, 2010 Fallout Continues from ELCA’s Gay Clergy Decision as Lutheran Churches Leave By Peter J. SmithCHICAGO, August 16, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The departure of several more congregations in central Illinois from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has once again highlighted how the denomination’s decision to approve active homosexual clergy has triggered a slow, steady bleeding of congregations.One year ago this month at its national convention, the ELCA voted "to open the ministry of the church to gay and lesbian pastors and other professional workers living in committed relationships." The policy change was decided by more...

South Dakota's Lutheran bishop attempted to head off the possibility of local congregations breaking from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America during a Tuesday night forum before several hundred congregants. The Rev. David Zellmer, bishop of the South Dakota Synod of the ELCA, met with members of Rapid City Lutheran congregations to respond to a controversial decision last August allowing homosexual clergy to serve in the church and recognize their partners. Zellmer said the action threw some churches into turmoil and angered some congregations. He said he wanted to assure the people that the synod still does not recognize same-sex...

A northeast Iowa synod council is the first in the nation to defy the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s decision to allow clergy to be in committed same-gender relationships. A resolution passed last month by the council of the Northeastern Iowa Synod, based in Waverly, seeks to circumvent the controversial August decision by the ELCA’s churchwide assembly. The denomination currently requires that homosexual clergy remain celibate, and the council wants to maintain the existing regulations. If successful, the move could ultimately restrict how churches call pastors in the future because it sets a policy where none existed. The resolution was...

As of Nov. 29, clergy of the diocese may solemnize marriages for all eligible couples, Bishop M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE has announced. The decision comes after a long discernment process leading up to and continuing after the action of General Convention this past July allowing that “bishops, particularly in dioceses within civil jurisdictions where same-gender marriage is legal, may provide generous pastoral response to meet the needs of members of this church.” The full text of Bishop Shaw’s statement follows. Advent I, November 29, 2009 Christian marriage is a sacramental rite that has evolved in the church, along with confirmation,...

NEW BRIGHTON, Minn. – The split over gay clergy within the country's largest Lutheran denomination has prompted a conservative faction to begin forming a new Lutheran church body separate from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Leaders of Lutheran CORE said Wednesday that a working group would immediately begin drafting a constitution and taking other steps to form the denomination, with hopes to have it off the ground by next August. "There are many people within the ELCA who are very unhappy with what has happened," said the Rev. Paull Spring, chairman of Lutheran CORE and a retired ELCA bishop...

The presiding bishop of the nation's largest Lutheran denomination warned Wednesday that withholding financial support to protest a recent gay clergy vote would be "devastating" to the church. Bishop Mark Hanson laid out his concerns in a letter to leaders of the 4.7 million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which is based in Chicago. The ELCA churchwide assembly voted last month to allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy, dropping a requirement that gay clergy remain celibate. The Rev. Mark Chavez, director of Lutheran CORE, said the gay clergy vote was the devastating event — "a...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Bradley E. Schmeling has been receiving letters and stories of Lutherans returning to church after many years away, given actions taken at the 2009 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in August. "Even my own partner's sister's family intends to return to an ELCA congregation after many years of worship in other denominations," Schmeling said. "People write to me about their experiences with church issues. (They) know my name because of the trial a couple of years ago." In 2007 Schmeling was removed from the ELCA clergy roster for being in...

Let us detour for a moment from the recent death of Senator Ted Kennedy and the continuing debate over health care reform to consider a bizarre little happening in the Twin Cities that occurred last week. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America convened for an annual meeting at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Among the items on its agenda was a vote to decide whether to allow non-celibate homosexuals to be ordained as pastors. On Wednesday, the day of the vote, a freak storm unexpectedly swept through town without warning, bringing a tornado that damaged both the convention center and the...

Lutheran ministers who are in same-sex relationships will not be allowed to serve as clergy in United Methodist congregations despite the new full communion agreement between the two denominations. Bishop Gregory Palmer, president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops, made clear on Wednesday that UMC's ban on noncelibate gay clergy still stands. "Our Book of Discipline on that subject did not become null and void when they took that vote," said Palmer, according to the United Methodist News Service. "It still applies to United Methodist clergy." Palmer was referring to the highly publicized vote last week by the chief...

On Friday, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) voted in favor of allowing practicing homosexuals, in committed relationships, to hold positions of authority within the sect. By a vote of 559 to 451 at last week's national convention, representatives of the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States decided "to open the ministry of the church to gay and lesbian pastors and other professional workers living in committed relationships." "The actions here change the church's policy, which previously allowed gays and lesbians into the ordained ministry only if they remained celibate," ELCA information director John Brook told AFP.

In breaking down barriers restricting gays and lesbians from the pulpit, the nation's largest Lutheran denomination has laid down a new marker in a debate over the direction of mainline Protestant Christianity, a tradition that once dominated American religious life. By voting Friday to allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy, the 4.7-million member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will either show how a church can stand together amid differences, or become another casualty of division over sexual morality and the Bible, observers say. "We're going to be living in tension and ambiguity for a longer...

In a historic change, noncelibate gays and lesbians can now lead parishes of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). On a 559-451 vote taken Friday in Minneapolis at their biennial conference, delegates repealed the ELCA ban on gay clergy unless they agree to remain celibate. It makes ELCA, with 4.8 million members nationwide and 830,000 in Minnesota, the largest denomination in the country to welcome gays into the pulpits without restriction.The vote did not surprise Ryan Schwarz from Washington, a member of Lutheran CORE, a group that opposed the motion. Nor did it dampen his interest in running for...

The nation's largest Lutheran denomination took openly gay clergy more fully into its fold Friday, as leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted to lift a ban that prohibited sexually active gay and lesbian people from serving as ministers. Under the new policy, individual ELCA congregations will be allowed to hire homosexuals as clergy as long as they are in a committed relationships. Until now, gays and lesbians had to remain celibate to serve as clergy. In a prepared statement, Nebraska Synod Bishop David deFreese said difficult deliberations are part of being the church. "Good people of earnest...

Leaders of the nation's biggest Lutheran denomination voted Friday to allow gays in committed relationships to serve as clergy in the church -- making it one of the largest Christian denominations in the country to significantly open the pulpit to gays. Previously, only celibate gays were permitted to serve as clergy in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a denomination of 4.8 million members. But delegates to a church assembly voted 559-451 to allow gays in "life-long, monogamous" relationships to serve as clergy and professional lay leaders in the church. The vote is the culmination of a years-long process in...

Aug. 21, 2009 WELS president expresses regret at ELCA decision on gay clergy Milwaukee, Wis.—Rev. Mark Schroeder, president of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), is expressing regret at the vote of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) convention regarding homosexual clergy. Friday, delegates approved a resolution committing the church to find a way for “people in such publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships” to serve as professional leaders of the church. “To view same-sex relationships as acceptable to God is to place cultural viewpoint and human opinions above the clear Word of God,” says Schroeder. “The Wisconsin Evangelical...

The Bible study from Proverbs was led by Peter Mayer (lead guitarist for Jimmy Buffet) and Pr. Ron Glusenkamp. Mayer led in an intermittent sings, such as a chorus: “Who names us and claims us more than silver or gold?” The Bible study was interactive, with Glusenkamp presenting brief meditations, and then asking the house to discuss certain questions. Phil Harris reported for the Election Committee. The report of the “common ballot” has been printed—this is the lengthy ballot for Church Council and other churchwide committee offices. There were 69 different election, and 65 of them produced a result (usually...

Discussion resumed on “Resolution 1,” with Susan Dill, DE-MD. In my visiting with people, I’ve heard stories of bishops who are already keeping people of one opinion or another out of their synod. How is that respect of conscience going to work? (Interesting question, though not germaine to the present resolution.) Timothy Wengert answered, suggesting that bishops and synods must respect the consciences with which they disagree. Stan Olsen added that we have one roster, and anyone on the roster is eligible for call in any synod. Pr. Richard Mahan, WV/WMd. Spoke against. We’ve lost nearly half a million members...

MINNEAPOLIS — Leaders of Lutheran CORE (Coalition for Reform) expressed both great distress and firm resolve over the decision Friday, Aug. 21, by the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to endorse gay marriage and to change its standards to allow pastors and other rostered leaders to be in committed same-sex relationships. Lutheran CORE leaders are calling on faithful Lutherans to meet in Indianapolis in September to begin an expanded ministry that draws faithful ELCA congregations and members together. They are also encouraging ELCA members and congregations to direct finances away from the ELCA churchwide organization to...

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America passed a controversial vote late Friday afternoon to allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy. Despite strong opposition, the ELCA passed the vote 559 to 451, marking a historic change, and repealing a ban on gay clergy. At 4.7 million members and about 10,000 congregations in the United States, the ELCA would be one of the largest U.S. Christian denominations yet to take a more gay-friendly stance on clergy. "We are today part of a church denomination that is changing, and it will make possible...

As the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) meets in Minneapolis to vote on the inclusion of openly gay and lesbian clergy, proponents are making sure the stories of gay and lesbian pastors are heard. Advocates are distributing a document in which 95 members of the Lutheran clergy — a number that references Martin Luther’s 95 Theses — announce that they are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. The booklet, “One Table, Many Blessings” (pdf), shares how the ban on openly gay clergy has affected their lives. Currently church rules state openly gay or lesbian clergy should remain celibate and not...

One of the Evangelical Lutheran Church's regional synods voted on Saturday to uphold the denomination's policy banning non-celibate gay and lesbian clergy. The South Dakota Synod voted 362-233 during its annual assembly against changing the ELCA's current ordination policy and social statements on sexuality. The vote is a recommendation to the denomination's highest governing body which will consider proposals on homosexuality at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in August. Earlier this year, the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality released a long-awaited report acknowledging that there is neither a consensus nor an emerging one in the denomination on homosexuality while...

LONDON - The Church of Scotland has approved the appointment of an openly homosexual minister - the latest case of tensions over sexuality to prompt division in the Anglican Communion. The church's ruling body voted Saturday by 326 to 267 to support the appointment of the Rev. Scott Rennie, 37, who was previously married to a woman and is now in a relationship with a man. Rennie was first appointed as a minister 10 years ago, but has faced opposition from some critics since he moved to a church in Aberdeen, Scotland, last year. The case threatens to divide Scottish...

... “[Hitler] guessed correctly that the French had no stomach for a fight. If only they had, then the tragedy of a Second World War might have been avoided,” Mr Watson said in the sermon he delivered at Kirkmuirhill Church in Lanark. “To claim that the homosexual lifestyle is worthy of a child of God; to demand that a same-sex partnership be recognised as on a footing with marriage; to commend such a lifestyle to others is to deny that Jesus Christ is our only Sovereign and Lord. It is to turn the grace of God into a licence for...

The long-awaited position on ordaining gay clergy in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America isn't a clear yes or no. An ELCA task force admitted Thursday that it could not reach a consensus on the issue that has polarized its members for years. But with the matter expected to dominate this summer's national convention in Minneapolis, its position paper offers this suggested solution: The ELCA will allow the ordination of gay pastors but will leave it up to individual congregations and synods whether to ordain or appoint pastors. The term used to describe this compromise is "structured flexibility." While acknowledging...

Lutherans weigh making gay clergy a local decision ERIC GORSKI Feb. 19, 2009. The nation's largest Lutheran denomination will consider allowing individual congregations to choose whether to allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy, an attempt to avoid the sort of infighting that has threatened to tear other churches apart. A task force of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America recommended that course Thursday in a long-awaited report on ministry standards. The panel, however, said the church needs to clarify a number of questions before overhauling its gay clergy policy. The report, issued at the same...

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s highest governing body voted Friday in favor of a proposal that would allow for the ordination of non-celibate gays and lesbians. The 218th General Assembly, meeting in San Jose, Calif., this week, voted 380-325 to send the overture – that would delete the requirement that clergy live in "fidelity within the covenant of marriage between and a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness" – to the denomination's 173 presbyteries for approval. Adding to the blow to conservatives, the Assembly also adopted a supplementary authoritative interpretation of the PC(USA) constitution that would allow gay and...

Child abuse has gone unchecked in the Church of England for decades amid a cover up by bishops, secret papers have revealed. Information that could have prevented abuse has been "lost or damaged", concerns about individuals have been ignored and allegations have not been recorded. It means that the Church has no idea how many paedophiles are in its midst. Lawyers warned last night that the Church faces a crisis as catastrophic as the one that engulfed the Roman Catholic Church and cost it millions of pounds in damages. Richard Scorer, a solicitor who has specialised in child abuse cases,...

Gay clergyman bemoans U.S. reputation as forcing its ways on other cultures By Mary Adamski madamski@starbulletin.com The perception of Americans as aggressors affected the politics within the Anglican Church, said the gay clergyman whose election as bishop set off upheaval within the 77-million member global Anglican Communion. "The worldview of America, seen as swaggering around the world and having our way and all others be damned, the energy around this issue (gay clergy) has as much to do with that perception as it does with Scriptures," Bishop V. Gene Robinson, the first openly gay man to be ordained a bishop...

VATICAN CITY -- An Italian monsignor was suspended from his position at the Holy See after the cleric said in a television interview he "didn't feel he was sinning" by having sex with gay men, the Vatican and news reports said Saturday. Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi told journalists that while the case was under investigation the monsignor was suspended from his job as a top official in the Vatican's Congregation for Clergy, an office which aims to ensure proper conduct by priests. "The case is being handled with utmost reserve," Lombardi said. A private Italian TV network earlier...

A senior Church of England conservative has intensified the storm over homosexuals in the clergy by warning he will boycott next summer's Lambeth Conference if liberal American bishops are invited. Bishop Nazir-Ali said profound differences needed to be resolved The Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, said he would find it difficult to attend a Church council alongside those who consecrated or approved the appointment of Anglicanism's first openly gay bishop.His comments are fresh evidence of the divisions within the Church of England over the issues and will exacerbate the difficulties facing the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr...

Archbishop calls secret service for gay clergy to halt slide towards schism Dr Rowan Williams is just returning from a three-month break, but the secret communion is bound to destabilise his position further Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent of The Times The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is to hold a secret Communion service for gay clergy and their partners in London. Dr Williams will celebrate the eucharist at St Peter’s, Eaton Square – the Church of England parish that is known as the spiritual home to some of the country’s most liberal and wealthy...

This is background for Congregation exits [Episcopal to Anglican], posted earlier. September 4, 2007 A Pastoral Letter to the People of St. Clement’s, El Paso Dear Friends in Christ, I have a pastoral obligation to communicate with you as clearly as possible before the congregational meeting of the Pro-Cathedral of St. Clement is convened on September 16, 2007. The most important thing is to assure you of my prayers and my great affection and respect for St. Clement’s. You have been a tremendous blessing to the Diocese of the Rio Grande from the beginning, and your friends from...

'SAD TO LEAVE' | Gay clergy cemented departure from Episcopal Church September 10, 2007 BY SUSAN HOGAN/ALBACH Religion Reporter/shogan@suntimes.com Christians often describe their faith journey as a spiritual walk. On Sunday, a West Chicago congregation took a giant step in faith -- splitting from their denomination, the 2.2-million-member Episcopal Church. Nearly 100 people turned out for the final service at the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection. Afterward, they processed with crosses, candles and an altar down the street to their new worship space. » Former members of the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection walk to their new worship space...

BALTIMORE â€” The Rev. Ann Gordon stood in front of her United Methodist congregation last fall and announced that she was now he. Surgery and testosterone had transformed Ann into the Rev. Drew Phoenix -- still as liberal and laid-back as always, but now legally male. Most in the small congregation accepted their pastor's transition; they even threw him a renaming party, complete with birthday cake. But when Phoenix, 48, was reappointed to another year of ministry this spring by his bishop, it sparked a protest in the United Methodist Church. The denomination's highest authority, the Judicial Council, will take...

"Lesbian Could Head Episcopal Diocese" blares the headline of a Chicago Sun-Times story about the nomination of the Rev. Tracey Lind as a "finalist" -- a curious expression -- for bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago. She's found within herself the courage to go forward: "I believe that accepting this nomination is what God is asking of me," Lind said in a statement. She's dean of Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland and author of Interrupted by God. How quickly identity politics has changed. Twenty-five years ago politically enlightened persons were instructed to ignore a candidate's homosexual libido as irrelevant...

Though global Anglican leaders have urged the U.S. church to unequivocally exclude gay bishops by next month, an openly lesbian Episcopal priest is among the five nominees for bishop of the Chicago diocese announced Tuesday. Rev. Tracey Lind, who followed Chicago Bishop William Persell as dean of Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland, is one of three women named as finalists to replace Persell, who plans to resign after his successor is installed. It is the first slate of candidates in the diocese to include women. "Since the day last winter when I was asked to make myself available to this nominating...

HAVE WATCHED my church – the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America – debate sexuality for 20 years. A key concern has been the role of gays and lesbians in the pastoral ministry. We allow gays and lesbians in our pulpits, but have expected them to abstain from sexual relationships, even if in a committed relationship comparable to marriage. Earlier this month, by a vote of 538 to 431, the highest decision-making body of our denomination urged bishops to exercise "restraint" in disciplining clergy who violate that policy. The action by our churchwide assembly did not change the policy, but clearly...

Gay clergy OK'd by Evangelical Lutheran Church in America August 11, 2007 BY SUSAN HOGAN/ALBACH Religion Reporter For the first time, clergy in same-sex committed relationships can serve the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America without threat of discipline to them, their congregations or their bishops. The historic decision, made today at a national assembly at Navy Pier, was spearheaded by Bishop Paul Landahl of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod. A day earlier, attendees voted down a measure that would have ended a ban on non-celibate gay clergy. But Saturday’s vote calls on church leaders to “refrain from or demonstrate restraint” in...

ATLANTA -- The message was clear as congregants filed out of St. John's Lutheran Church sanctuary on Sunday: The Rev. Bradley Schmeling isn't going anywhere. With hugs and cheers, members of Atlanta's oldest Lutheran church celebrated Schmeling, the pastor who has been at the center of a denomination-wide battle over the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's treatment of gay clergy. The show of support came a day after the national assembly of the ELCA in Chicago urged bishops to refrain from defrocking gay and lesbian ministers who violate a celibacy rule, but fell short of permitting ordained gays churchwide. Schmeling...

Largest US Lutheran Church Votes to Uphold but Not Enforce Gay Clergy Ban By Peter J. Smith CHICAGO, August 13, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The largest denomination of Lutherans in the United States has decided that it will no longer discipline or enforce a ban against sexually active homosexual clergy. Delegates at the national assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in Chicago passed a resolution Saturday by a vote of 538-431 urging bishops to "refrain from or demonstrate restraint" in disciplining homosexual clergy in "faithful committed same-gender relationships." Chicago's Bishop Paul Landahl offered the resolution on the final day...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The highest court for the United Methodist Church is taking up the case of a minister who changed gender from female to male. The Reverend Ann Gordon had spent five years as minister at St. John's United Methodist Church in Baltimore before undergoing surgery and hormone therapy to become the Reverend Drew Phoenix. Bishop John Schol of the Methodists' Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference reappointed Phoenix this spring as pastor of the church, noting that the denomination's Book of Discipline says nothing about transgender clergy. The Judicial Council, scheduled to meet Oct. 24th-27th in San Francisco, will look at...

While the churchwide assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America shut the front door for now on allowing ministers in same-sex relationships to serve the denomination, they essentially told them to go to the back door and come in. The assembly, meeting in Chicago this week, voted to refer most resolutions on homosexual behavior and ordination standards to a task force on human sexuality that is preparing a social statement for the 2009 churchwide assembly, thus taking the resolutions out of consideration at this assembly. More significantly, the assembly closed the front door when it defeated a resolution that...